Canned Venison?

[RK]

Hiya -

Don't know if it's been discussed in here (search didn't turn up anything) but anyone have an interest in canning venison?

I started canning some several years ago, just to try it, and it's become one of my family's favorite ways to eat venison. We've canned more and more every year, and last year, basically canned a whole deer except for the back straps and a couple roasts. We do all sorts of stuff with it, from making stroganoff and sandwiches to burritos, etc. It's killer for burrito filling... Best thing is it's super fast to prepare - all you have to do is heat it up. Great for nights when you have to eat and run.

What I think is cool about it is it's a real history lesson for my kids. The pressure cooker I have used to be my grandmother's. She passed away in 1995 at the age of 94, and had the cooker for years. I don't know exactly how old it is, but the manual has instructions for using it on a wood stove (which she did).

Anyhow - I'm going to be canning up some venison from this year's deer in the next week or so. If anyone's interested, I'll try to take some photos and document the process. It really is good stuff, and super easy to do.

Cheers,

RK

[LABS4ME]

I'd be interested in seeing this. I have 15 varieties of sausage under my belt, never tried canned venison, but hear nothing but rave reviews over it. I may try it with my muzzy deer...

Good Luck!

Ken

[reinhard1]

RK, by all means give us that dont can some tips and reciepies. my brother is the canner in the family and he does venison and salmon. although he uses different spices at times with the venison, he gave me some canned with just the venison and no spices and i liked that a lot. so i think you could be helpfull to us out here that haven't canned at all and want to give it a shot. thanks. good luck.

[Leaky]

Well, I'm going to assume that canned is the same as jarred. A friend had brought some out ice fishing on Red a few years back. It was awesome. Ate it right out of the jar, but I can see where using it for stroganoff, burritos, ect would be great!

[BobT]

I posted my recipe about a year ago. Here it is. Very easy to do.

I use large mouth quart jars and a pressure canner with a wobble weight. I cut the trimmed meat into 3/4" - 1" cubes and leave about 1" space at the top of the jar. No need to add any liquid to the jar. Add one bullion cube. Soak the lids in hot water, wipe the jar lid clean before placing the lids on, screw the rings tight. Place about 2" to 3" water in bottom of canner and add jars. Follow instructions from the canner.

For mine, I heat it until steam begins to escape out the stem in the lid for a minimum of 10 minutes to be sure there is no air left in the canner. Then I place the weight on the stem to build pressure. Once the pressure builds the locking mechanism will lock the lid and the weight will begin to wobble.

Start a timer for 90 minutes. Maintain heat to keep the weight wobbling slightly. After 90 minutes turn off heat and let the canner cool until the lock releasees the lid. Carefully remove the jars and gently set them on a counter to cool. I like to place towel on the counter becasue they will be wet and hot. You'll see they might even still be boiling.

As they cool you should hear or see the lids convex to indicate a seal has been accomplished. Sometimes you'll hear them pop when it seals.

[BLACKJACK]

Some day I need to try this. I have a smaller pressure cooker that I use a lot for soup bones and chickens, good way to cook them up, but I've never tried canning quart jars. I have a big canner from my mother in law, need to see if it works, then butcher a deer on my own, too easy to just take it to a butcher and get little white packages back!!

[Farley]

I've canned a batch or two for the last couple years, this year I'm going to work on the presentation. The taste is there, but it just looks like a jar full of .... well use your imagination. I would feel better about giving it away if it looked a little better.

[reinhard1]

my brothers look as you tried to describe but sure tasted good. i think thats all that matters unless you want to tape a box of crackers on the jar . good luck.

[Walleyehooker]

Hers a good HSOforum for canning SAFELY http://google.umn.edu/search?q=canning&a...amp;x=0&y=0

[RK]

Hiya -

Blackjack, I'm sure the cooker from you MIL still works, although you may need to get a new seal for it. They're pretty easy to find. My gradmother's pressure cooker is an antique, and I still found a seal for it at my local hardware store. Fleet Farm usually has a good stock of them too.

Farley - Yeah, it looks kind of scary in the jar. I don't know how you'd get around that though. When I give some to people, I just say "Trust me and try it." They usually ask for more...

Good link WH - yeah, you do have to be careful and very precise about a couple steps, especially cleaning the jar mouths and prepping the lids. It's not too tough though. Every once in a while I'll get a jar that won't seal, but not very often. Those just get eaten right away.

[Walleyehooker]

If you have a county extension office close to you many will check your canner and even test the pressure gauge if yours has one for accuracy.Mine in Elk River checked both of my canners.They are the old heavy duty aluminun ones with pressure gauges.I think the company still sells them but they are expensive.They also have a paperback guide for canning either for free or just a few bucks.You should be able to find one close to you by searching on the net and worth checking out.One step I do with canning that saves time is run the jars threw the dishwasher with no soap to sterilize them.

[TruthWalleyes]

Oh man the first time i saw canned venison

A few minutes later after "Trust me and try it" MM MM GOOD!!

[BobT]

Here's what mine looks like in the jars. It got a little stirred up when I tipped the jar to get it out of the cupboard but as you can see the meat retains most of its shape.

Mine is raw packed. That is it is not precooked. I just cube it, pack it, drop in a bullion cube, and pressure can it at 10psi for 90 minutes following the procedure from my pressure cooker owner's manual.

[reinhard1]

Looks great to me!!!!good luck.

[TooTallTom]

My grandpa was just telling us about one of the old polish families canning venison, and how much he misses it. I might have to strong-arm my mom into helping me (teaching me, more like it) can some. Thanks for the nudge, and a step-by-step with photos would be great!

[Walleyehooker]

Yes that is exactly what it looks like when done.Kind of a light redish tint.I was a little skeptical on the first batch I made years ago but even the wife liked it.Canning also takes away the gamey taste and people would think it is beef if you didnt tell them it was deer. You can pack a little more meat in there tighter as it cooks down.

[BobT]

Quote:

You can pack a little more meat in there tighter as it cooks down.

How do you do that with a pressure canner? Once the process is started it is not recommended to interfere. For one thing the canner should have a lock on it that won't allow you to open the lid while under pressure 'cauase that would be a bad and dangerous thing to do unless you don't mind getting sprayed with 220 degree steam under pressure.

The whole idea of pressure canning is that you are able to cook under higher pressure ergo, higher temperatures. The process includes removing air from the cooker to prevent contanmination. Interrupting that process is not recommended.

[TruthWalleyes]

I think what he meant was to go ahead and cram it into the jars because it will shrink in the canning process, not to interrupt the canning process and add more.

[TruthWalleyes]

Assuming i can tag a few deer this year, I'd like to can some as well...What cuts do you use for canning? Mostly roasts? Or i there some trim used?

[Walleyehooker]

I have canned everything except the prime backstraps.Even the tougher cuts will fall apart after being canned.I pack the jars pretty full and fairly tight with meat and just leave recomended head space about an inch. As you can see in the pic it cooks down some.

[Walleyehooker]

You tube also has a bunch of videos on canning

[RK]

Assuming i can tag a few deer this year, I'd like to can some as well...What cuts do you use for canning? Mostly roasts? Or i there some trim used?

Other than a few odds and and ends that go to sausage, I can anything I'm not packaging whole like the backstraps and some of the bigger roasts. I do try and trim it as much as possible so there's no silverskin and as little fat as possible, but basically, if I can get a 1/2" or so cube of meat out of it it's fair game. Almost regardless of where it came from, it'll be falling apart tender by the time it's done.

If I manage to tag out during muzzleloader season, I'll can dang near a whole deer.

[BobT]

I think what he meant was to go ahead and cram it into the jars because it will shrink in the canning process, not to interrupt the canning process and add more.

Oh, I see. I should've figured as much but I didn't want anyone to think it was appropriate to interrupt the process as that could be dangerous in many ways.

[BobT]

Other than a few odds and and ends that go to sausage, I can anything I'm not packaging whole like the backstraps and some of the bigger roasts. I do try and trim it as much as possible so there's no silverskin and as little fat as possible, but basically, if I can get a 1/2" or so cube of meat out of it it's fair game. Almost regardless of where it came from, it'll be falling apart tender by the time it's done.

If I manage to tag out during muzzleloader season, I'll can dang near a whole deer.

Ditto.